Desert of the Real
by Dema451
Summary: A new girl is wanted by the Merovingian, the Agents, and the unplugged. But she doesn't know what to do. RR!


Desert of the Real  
  
Dema Dragonscale  
  
A/N :: I do not own the Matrix, or anything else related to the Matrix. I own Natalie Erickson, and all the 'new' characters. If I did own the Matrix...oh no too many thoughts. The Matrix is real. The Matrix has you. Read, enjoy, and review!  
  
Chapter One: Hel Night Club  
  
The music beat through the air, shaking the ground beneath. The dancers, who were both homosexual and heterosexual, moved aside as three beings circled through the crowd. All three of them held guns, and they were all pointed to the crowd.  
  
Slowly I backed away from the armed ones. There were two men, and one woman. The woman, who I strangely recognized, was dressed in a black leather trench coat, with black sunglasses to hide her eyes. Her hair was slicked down, for it wouldn't get in her way. One of the men was black, where the other one was Asian. Chinese, it looked like. The black one wore a purple suit, was bald, and had on also black sunglasses. The Asian one looked strange out of the three. He wore a white jacket, unlike the other two who wore black. His pants and undershirt were black, and he also wore black sunglasses, like the other two. But his white jacket made him stand out from the other two, along with everyone else on the dance floor.  
  
I stared down the barrel of the guns as they passed by. The girl seemed to stare straight at me through her dark sunglasses. I gulped, and backed away. I allowed them to pass by, although the Merovingian wanted anyone who held a weapon in the club to be caught. But no one dared to stop them.  
  
I heard the Merovingian laugh from the balcony. He stood up, and yelled at the DJ. "Hey, hey!" The music stopped, and the three also stopped, and stared up at the balcony at the Merovingian. Even the dancers looked up at him, since we had to respect him. He was the French Man, and if we did not respect him, he would kill us.  
  
"The prodigal child returns. L'ange sans ailes. Are you here for the bounty, Seraph?" The Merovingian then laughed. Then he continued. "Tell me, how many bullets are there in those guns? I don't know, but I don't think you have enough."  
  
The Asian spoke up. "We only want to talk." He sounded Chinese.  
  
The Merovingian smiled. "Oh yes, I'm sure you do, you have fought through hell to do so, yes? I'll tell you what I'll do. Put down the guns and I will promise you safe passage out of here."  
  
"All three of us." The Asian one said again.  
  
"Oh yes, yes. Of course."  
  
The Q-Ball gang members walked forward, and took their guns. The three of them were escorted up the stairs, and onto the balcony, where both the Merovingian, and his wife Persephone, were.  
  
I watched them as they were being escorted. What was the relationship between them and the Merovingian? They seemed to be on opposite sides, yet the Merovingian actually allowed them to talk to him. I too went up the stairs, but on the other stairway than the three had been escorted, and stood behind the Merovingian.  
  
The Merovingian spoke first. "Quelle bonne surprise, n'est pas? Who couldn't guessed we'd all be seeing each other so soon after our last meeting?" What was he talking about? I was curious, and I wanted to know what was going on, even though I wasn't involved. "A fate too kind. And since you, my little Judas, have brought them here, I can only surmise that the fortuneteller has found herself another shell? Disappointing, but not unexpected. I do hope, however, she has the good manners to learn her lesson, and to remember that there is no action without consequence. And if you take something from me you will pay the price."  
  
Fortuneteller? Does he mean the Oracle? I was lost, but I had to know these things.  
  
"You know why we are here." The Asian one said.  
  
The Merovingian laughed once again. "Come, now. What kind of question is this? Of course I know. It's my business to know. Some might think this a strange coincidence, but I do not. I am curious, though, as to how it actually happened. Do you know?"  
  
He was regarding the girl, and for her to speak. "No," she replied, her face still straight as though she did not say anything.  
  
"No? I didn't think so. But it is always best to ask." He said it with a bit of sarcasm. What are they talking about?  
  
"We want to make a deal." The black man said, his face also straight like the girls'.  
  
How many times did the Merovingian have to laugh? He laughed every time he had to speak, as it seemed.  
  
"Always straight to business, huh, Morpheus? Okay. I have something you want. To make a deal, you must have something I want, yes?" So Morpheus was his name. But what did the Merovingian have that they wanted? "And it so happens there is something I want. Something I've wanted ever since I first came here. It is said they cannot be taken, they can only be given."  
  
What was he talking about? I hate riddles; I can never solve them.  
  
"What?" Morpheus asked.  
  
"The eyes of the Oracle." And he laughed again.  
  
The eyes of the Oracle? I knew the Oracle was a fortuneteller, and could predict the future. But how could this have related to the riddle? They cannot be taken, only be given. Would the Oracle really want to give up her eyes? I stood there, thinking away.  
  
"I have told you before, there's no escaping the nature of the universe. It is that nature that has again brought you to me. Where some see coincidence, I see consequence. Where others see chance, I see cost. Bring me the eyes of the Oracle, and I will give you back your savior. That seems particularly fair and reasonable deal to me. Yes, no?" I was amazed. He actually didn't laugh.  
  
"I don't have time for this shit." The girl said, as she kicked the person beside her, and the gun went flying.  
  
She pointed the gun at the Merovingian's forehead, and all of the gang members held guns to each other. It was a big maze, as so it seemed like. Guns were pointed to everyone on that side of the balcony.  
  
"You want to make a deal, how about this? You give me Neo, or we all die right here, right now." She showed no fear. She meant it, no matter if she died or not.  
  
"Interesting deal," the Merovingian replied. "You are really ready to die for this man?"  
  
The woman cocked the gun she held. "Believe it."  
  
"She'll do it." This time, it was the Merovingian's wife who spoke. She looked over at her husband. "If she has to, she'll kill every one of us." Her gaze shifted over to the woman. "She's in love."  
  
The Merovingian gulped, and he went from looking at his wife to looking at the woman. "It is remarkable how similar the pattern of love is to the pattern of insanity."  
  
"Time's up. What's it going to be, Merv?"  
  
Merv? It was hilarious to hear the Merovingian to be called that. Neo...the One? This was all coming together to me now.  
  
"You may have your savior." The Merovingian finally concluded.  
  
The woman lowered the gun. The shaggy man, who was known as the Trainman, stood up, and led the three out of the club.  
  
I went down to the bar, and thought about everything that had happened. You see, I am not one of the Merovingian's gang members. I am a hacker, as you might say. I gather information. My hacker name is Siren, although my human name is Natalie Erickson. I am not that good of a hacker, since I am in high school, and so I do not get the freedom I want at home. I barely have all the right equipment in order to hack. My father doesn't want to spend his money on 'worthless junk', as he calls it.  
  
My family is a normal, average family. We have financial problems, like all other modern families. We live in a one-story house, far out away from the city. My father's name is Donald Erickson. My mother passed on a couple of years ago. I have no siblings. I am the only child.  
  
I dressed like a normal teenage girl these days. Baggy clothes, guy clothes as you might say, most of the time. I have a fair amount of friends, and only two of them believe that the Matrix is real, along with me. I have long, curly red hair, which goes down to the middle of my back. I have green, emerald eyes as my friends call me, and I'm 5'7", which is taller than most people I know.  
  
I looked up, and found that the music had been turned back on. Everything had returned to normal.  
  
"Excuse me, miss."  
  
"But the Merovingian wishes to see you."  
  
I glared at the two men who stood behind me. They were the Merovingian's bodyguards. They were albino twins.  
  
I stood up, and hoped that I wasn't going to be in trouble. 


End file.
